74: Zombie serum

Qin Shilei and the others had no choice but to emerge from behind the large tree.

Seeing that it was three women and one weak man who walked out, everyone's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

Ma Yulian, the middle-aged woman in the center of the crowd, glanced at them and said indifferently, "Just a few more unlucky souls forced in by the Great Peng Bird, I suppose."

A white-haired old man beside her said with dissatisfaction, "Deputy Director Ma, why must you mock others? We were also chased by that Great Peng Bird and had no choice but to flee in here."

Qin Shilei ignored the sharp-tongued Ma Yulian and looked up at the leading officer, asking, "Officer, have you encountered a man and a woman? The man is over 1.9 meters tall, and the woman uses a compound bow."

Commander Luo shook his head, "We haven't encountered such a combination."

He paused, then asked, "Are you coming from the east? What's the situation like over there?"

Qin Shilei stepped forward and replied, "We are indeed from Xinluo City, from the east. About a kilometer from here is a road, and that Great Peng Bird has been circling in that vicinity."

Through their conversation, Qin Shilei learned that the other party had hidden in this forest three days ago to evade the Great Peng Bird's hunt.

Over a hundred civilians had also hidden in with them.

This forest is not large, less than ten kilometers in circumference.

To the south of the forest is a swift-flowing river, to the north is where they entered, which is a small, low-lying hill, to the west is a small basin, and beyond that are continuous mountain ranges.

The Great Peng Bird, along with three smaller Great Peng Birds, had been circling above this forest.

Once someone ran out of the forest, they would swoop down and hunt them.

"They seem to be teaching the smaller Great Peng Birds how to hunt," Professor Yu, with his white hair, speculated.

"If it weren't for that foolish soldier who blasted the Great Peng Bird with a cannon, perhaps they would have flown away after catching a few people."

Ma Yulian complained, "Now look, they're stuck here all day. We've been trapped in this cursed place for three whole days."

The soldiers around, hearing Ma Yulian's blaming words, all turned to glare at her angrily.

"What are you staring at? Am I wrong?" Ma Yulian still did not feel she had said anything wrong.

Commander Luo glanced at Ma Yulian and said coldly, "If it weren't for Little Zhao staying behind to attract the Great Peng Bird's attention, perhaps all of us would have died."

Ma Yulian, still unconvinced, muttered under her breath, "In any case, we shouldn't have angered that Great Peng Bird."

"Shut up!" Professor Yu glared at Ma Yulian and ordered.

Ma Yulian looked at Professor Yu, opened her mouth, but ultimately dared not say anything more.

Seeing that the other party had stopped, Qin Shilei spoke, "Commander Luo, we still need to find our companions, so we'll take our leave first."

Commander Luo thought for a moment and said, "We are all stranded here. If you find a way to leave, I hope you can let us know."

Qin Shilei nodded and turned to continue walking west.

Just then, a surprised voice suddenly came from the right: "Zhang Xiaoli, so you're here! Come quickly and see Zhang Qiang."

Xie Haimei, carrying the unconscious Zhang Qiang, pushed through the tall grass and hurried over.

Zhang Xiaoli quickly went to meet her and treated Zhang Qiang.

After a while, Zhang Qiang slowly regained consciousness.

Qin Shilei saw that Zhang Qiang was very weak, so he decided to rest here for half a day first.

Not long after, Commander Luo and the others who had left circled back.

They saw Qin Shilei and his group eating canned meat.

Immediately, countless sounds of swallowing echoed at the scene.

Ma Yulian stared intently at the canned meat in Qin Shilei's hand, "Commander Luo, go and trade for some food from them."

"Trade with what?" Commander Luo frowned.

"You must have some good things in your rings, right? Is it that hard to just take something out and trade for some food?" Ma Yulian said with dissatisfaction.

Commander Luo shook his head, indicating that they had nothing to trade for canned food.

Their soldiers had used the crystals, and their firearms and ammunition had been depleted along the way.

"Commander Luo, we are the future of humanity. If we only eat half a military biscuit per meal, we will sooner or later suffer from malnutrition. Who will save humanity then?"

Ma Yulian recalled the half-piece of hard-to-swallow military biscuit she had gnawed on that morning, and then looked at the canned meat in Qin Shilei's hand, feeling even more unbalanced.

A soldier next to her said with dissatisfaction, "You can still eat half a piece. We have to share half a piece between two people."

"I don't care about that. If I really get malnourished and forget crucial formulas, and then can't produce the zombie serum, that will be a loss for all of humanity."

Ma Yulian said self-righteously.

Commander Luo looked at the unreasonable Ma Yulian and suddenly regretted protecting her too well during their escape.

So much so that even after so long in the apocalypse, she still maintained such a high and mighty demeanor.

Thinking of this, Commander Luo sternly said, "We have nothing to trade. If you want to trade, go do it yourself."

"You..."

Ma Yulian stomped her foot and huffed, "I'm going to have a meat meal today, no matter what."

After speaking, she came before Qin Shilei, took out a bottle of blue liquid, and said, "I'll trade this bottle of zombie serum for ten cans of meat."

Qin Shilei glanced at her and replied indifferently, "No trade."

"You better look closely!" Ma Yulian said with an expression that implied he didn't know good merchandise, "This is zombie serum. As long as you inject it within ten minutes of being bitten by a zombie, you can avoid turning into one."

"Oh!"

Qin Shilei looked at the blue medicine bottle in her hand with some surprise.

These zombies were brought about by the gameification of Blue Star, and now an antidote had already been developed?

"Ma-Yu-Lian." Professor Yu, his hair bristling with anger, rushed over and reached out to snatch the medicine from Ma Yulian's hand.

"Professor Yu, this is the medicine I'm trading for canned meat. You can't take it!" Ma Yulian quickly put the medicine bottle into her ring, then looked at Professor Yu warily.

"Where did you get that medicine? Hand it over!" Professor Yu reached out, intending to snatch her ring.

"None of your business! You still have two doses over there, why do you insist on taking mine?" Ma Yulian desperately guarded her ring.

Qin Shilei looked at the expressions of the two and became even more interested in that bottle of medicine.

Although they had always been careful not to be bitten by zombies, who could guarantee that they would never be bitten in the future?

If such an antidote truly existed, it would be an extra layer of insurance.

"One can of meat," Qin Shilei offered, unsure if the other party was a fraud.

"No trading! This is the research result of our Research Institute, it's raw material for future research, it's the hope of humanity!"

Professor Yu reached out and blocked Ma Yulian, shouting loudly.

"Don't you still have two doses over there? What's the big deal if you're missing mine?"

Ma Yulian leaned forward and said to Qin Shilei, "Nine cans of meat. This is something that can save your life."

Professor Yu saw that he couldn't snatch her ring alone, so he turned and shouted to the left, "Commander Luo, take her medicine! This is a sample for future zombie serum research."

At Professor Yu's call, Commander Luo flashed to Ma Yulian's side, instantly subdued her, and snatched the ring.

Could that really be the antidote?

"Ten cans of meat," Qin Shilei offered an exorbitant price.

"No trade," Professor Yu refused without hesitation.

Qin Shilei instantly felt an urge to snatch it himself.